Postgame QB Eli Manning on Jets Win

Eli Manning, after the Giants' 29-14 win over the Jets.

Q: How couldn’t this win feel good with what was on the line today?

A: This is a big win because of everything that was on the line - playoffs and we knew we had to win this game to have a shot to keep ourselves in the playoff hunt. Playing against the cross-town rivals - a lot on the line. Guys stepped up and made some big plays. It wasn’t the prettiest game offensively that we’ve ever played, but we didn’t make many mistakes. We didn’t force things and put ourselves in harms way and a couple of big plays, key plays by this team to get the win.

Q: Describe what happened after the defense recovered a fumble and then you threw an interception.

A: We still wanted to be somewhat aggressive. We wanted to run the ball. They came out in a front where we couldn’t run the ball so we went with the pass. We think we’re throwing a pretty safe pass with a slant route and Revis did a good job of getting in there and hooking Hakeem. The ball gets tipped up and intercepted. It’s one of those. You throw it low and in front and you think it’s a pretty safe pass. You think it was going to fall incomplete. You don’t expect it to be intercepted - unfortunate right there, but the defense responded well and guys made big plays late in the game to get the win.

Q: Describe the touchdown pass to Cruz?

A: Just a great effort by him. We wanted to call something to have a shot to get the first down, but get the ball out of my hands pretty quickly when you’re backed up in your own end zone. Threw it to him and it was going to be close if we got the first down or not. I was just kind of hoping that he could maybe fall forward to get the first down in that situation. But he made two guys miss and then you saw a little speed. I thought the safety had an angle on him on the sideline, but he ran by everybody. A huge play in the game right there - we’re down, at that point we were backed up. If we were to punt there, the Jets would’ve gotten great field position, a chance to score before halftime and take a pretty big lead. Obviously that flip flopped everything, We take the lead, they miss the field goal, we go into halftime with a three-point lead in that situation. So a great effort by him and a huge play.

Q: Can you describe the other big plays Victor had?

A: He just had three catches, but the one set up the first score. He caught it over the middle, looks like he made some guys miss and got down to one yard-line. Unfortunately we couldn’t punch it in from there. And then later in the game he had one down the sideline for about 30 yards or so. And then the next play Brandon had a big run and Ahmad punches it in from there on a great run. Again, some of our drives weren’t long plays and 10 plays and great execution. It was more hit a couple of big plays in the game and play smart. Don’t force things. We were kind of hoping our defense would play great. They were, we knew that. So it just kind of reinforces that you have to play smart versus this defense. They do a great job. I think that’s why they’ve won so many games. And their defense gets turnovers. We try to play smart, don’t turn the ball over and hopefully our defense can play outstanding, which it did.